7 ms·

Induction heats much faster than a stove burner coil. As for the dial, apparently different kinds of tea taste better at different temperatures according to the

Induction heats much faster than a stove burner coil. As for the dial, apparently different kinds of tea taste better at different temperatures according to the variety.

perl4ever 6y ago
Everybody always says this, but without numbers that I can relate to. Also, this thing about kettles being all induction does not sound right. I got to go make a cup of coffee/tea and see how long it takes me. Edit: I just put my metal, non-electric kettle with 500 mL of cold tap water on a completely cold electric range and the time from turning the dial to Hi to the kettle whistling was 3 minutes +/- about 1 second. First google hit for "electric kettle test time to boil" is from consumer reports (I assume they are US only): "The electric kettles bring the water to a boil in about 4 to 5½ minutes" ...then again, I wouldn't have thought it but maybe electric kettles in the UK are faster? https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/kettles/article/how-we-test-kettles https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/kettles/article/how-we-test-... "The fastest kettles can boil a litre in less than two minutes and 18 seconds, but we've also tested kettles that take nearly twice as long - leaving you waiting around for your cuppa." So, my conclusion is an electric kettle might be noticeably faster on a percentage basis, but it reminds me of people who think a car that goes from 0-60 in 2.6 seconds is way higher performance than one that takes 3.6 seconds.
- sp332 6y ago
  I think induction cooktops were a separate option from kettles.
- Izkata 6y ago
  > ...then again, I wouldn't have thought it but maybe electric kettles in the UK are faster? I can imagine it being related to 120 volt outlets vs 240 volts, though I don't really know.
  - tialaramex 6y ago
    Ordinary sockets in a UK home supply ~240 volts at up to 13 amps = 3kW of power. In comparison a typical US outlet is ~120 volts (can be 110, can be 120, it varies) at up to 15 amps = 1.8kW. In both countries a home will have some beefier power for special purposes. In the UK (unless it's a really big house) this would be different sockets rated for more current at 240 volts or just stuff wired permanently for the higher current. e.g. an electric oven might be 20A at 240V = 4.8kW. In the US the weird way they get 110V means most homes (except maybe smaller dwellings in a multi-residence building) get 2x opposite 110V supplies so you can do 220V (which may be closer to 250V in some cases, again it varies) by wiring across the two sides to deliver power for an oven or central air conditioning system or other power hungry equipment. Again this is either wired in or uses less common sockets so that you don't plug the wrong stuff in.
    - Reelin 6y ago
      I believe the US is fully standardized on 120V and 60Hz for quite some time. > In the US the weird way they get 110V As a US resident I'm genuinely curious - what do you find weird about how we do the conversion from three phase? Doesn't the UK use three phase for transmission as well? Or is it three pole single phase itself that you find weird? > uses less common sockets Three pole single phase outlets are fully standardized in the national codes the same as 15 and 20 amp outlets are (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector). NEMA 5 and 14 (previously 10, deprecated for 15+ years depending on jurisdiction) are the only outlet types I've ever encountered in a home.
      - tialaramex 6y ago
        Although the nominal power is standardised, for a variety of reasons the actual voltage of your supply will vary within agreed ranges (and this is true elsewhere). Frequency shouldn't change because it's a problem for the power plants if they can't agree on frequency. Having three phase transmission isn't weird, it's the three pole single phase. There's no reason to do that except it's too late to change it now. The argued upside seems to be that it makes household electrical systems less dangerous (reduced voltage). But if you care about that you'd design the rest of the system to be less dangerous as they did across Europe. For example, obviously the last few millimetres of the live pins of a plug should be insulated, you don't need them to conduct power and a human might touch them, so insulate them. The point wasn't that these higher power sockets aren't standard (the NEMA standard is rubbish but it's a standard) but that they are literally less common.
- tialaramex 6y ago
  You're going to want a bit more than 4kJ/K to heat up water, and fresh water from a kitchen tap might be say 280K while you want to boil it, so 373K, for a difference of 93K. So that's about 400kJ of energy. A (good) UK electric kettle will almost invariably have a 3kW flat element (13A at 240V = 3.1kW but you don't want to get too close to the maximum). So that's turning almost 3kJ of electricity into heat every second, which works out to just over 130 seconds = 2 minutes and change to boil the water as the reviewers found. Edit: Forgot to add, I assumed one litre which is also what Which used in their test. In practice you might boil just 2 cups of water to make a beverage, which will be much faster.
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    >2 minutes and change to boil the water as the reviewers found The bottom line for me is that (in the UK where maybe small appliances can draw more) it takes 2-4 minutes, so as a pessimist, I wouldn't count on one that I can buy being faster than 3 minutes. I suppose I might do another test with 1L since I only used half that. But half a liter is plenty for one cup. It's possible that my setup works better than most because my kettle is almost a perfect hemisphere that exactly covers a large burner.

Induction heats much faster than a stove burner coil. As for the dial, apparently different kinds of tea taste better at different temperatures according to the variety.

perl4ever 6y ago

Everybody always says this, but without numbers that I can relate to. Also, this thing about kettles being all induction does not sound right. I got to go make a cup of coffee/tea and see how long it takes me. Edit: I just put my metal, non-electric kettle with 500 mL of cold tap water on a completely cold electric range and the time from turning the dial to Hi to the kettle whistling was 3 minutes +/- about 1 second. First google hit for "electric kettle test time to boil" is from consumer reports (I assume they are US only): "The electric kettles bring the water to a boil in about 4 to 5½ minutes" ...then again, I wouldn't have thought it but maybe electric kettles in the UK are faster? https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/kettles/article/how-we-test-kettles https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/kettles/article/how-we-test-... "The fastest kettles can boil a litre in less than two minutes and 18 seconds, but we've also tested kettles that take nearly twice as long - leaving you waiting around for your cuppa." So, my conclusion is an electric kettle might be noticeably faster on a percentage basis, but it reminds me of people who think a car that goes from 0-60 in 2.6 seconds is way higher performance than one that takes 3.6 seconds.

sp332 6y ago
I think induction cooktops were a separate option from kettles.
Izkata 6y ago
> ...then again, I wouldn't have thought it but maybe electric kettles in the UK are faster? I can imagine it being related to 120 volt outlets vs 240 volts, though I don't really know.
- tialaramex 6y ago
  Ordinary sockets in a UK home supply ~240 volts at up to 13 amps = 3kW of power. In comparison a typical US outlet is ~120 volts (can be 110, can be 120, it varies) at up to 15 amps = 1.8kW. In both countries a home will have some beefier power for special purposes. In the UK (unless it's a really big house) this would be different sockets rated for more current at 240 volts or just stuff wired permanently for the higher current. e.g. an electric oven might be 20A at 240V = 4.8kW. In the US the weird way they get 110V means most homes (except maybe smaller dwellings in a multi-residence building) get 2x opposite 110V supplies so you can do 220V (which may be closer to 250V in some cases, again it varies) by wiring across the two sides to deliver power for an oven or central air conditioning system or other power hungry equipment. Again this is either wired in or uses less common sockets so that you don't plug the wrong stuff in.
  - Reelin 6y ago
    I believe the US is fully standardized on 120V and 60Hz for quite some time. > In the US the weird way they get 110V As a US resident I'm genuinely curious - what do you find weird about how we do the conversion from three phase? Doesn't the UK use three phase for transmission as well? Or is it three pole single phase itself that you find weird? > uses less common sockets Three pole single phase outlets are fully standardized in the national codes the same as 15 and 20 amp outlets are (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector). NEMA 5 and 14 (previously 10, deprecated for 15+ years depending on jurisdiction) are the only outlet types I've ever encountered in a home.
    - tialaramex 6y ago
      Although the nominal power is standardised, for a variety of reasons the actual voltage of your supply will vary within agreed ranges (and this is true elsewhere). Frequency shouldn't change because it's a problem for the power plants if they can't agree on frequency. Having three phase transmission isn't weird, it's the three pole single phase. There's no reason to do that except it's too late to change it now. The argued upside seems to be that it makes household electrical systems less dangerous (reduced voltage). But if you care about that you'd design the rest of the system to be less dangerous as they did across Europe. For example, obviously the last few millimetres of the live pins of a plug should be insulated, you don't need them to conduct power and a human might touch them, so insulate them. The point wasn't that these higher power sockets aren't standard (the NEMA standard is rubbish but it's a standard) but that they are literally less common.
tialaramex 6y ago
You're going to want a bit more than 4kJ/K to heat up water, and fresh water from a kitchen tap might be say 280K while you want to boil it, so 373K, for a difference of 93K. So that's about 400kJ of energy. A (good) UK electric kettle will almost invariably have a 3kW flat element (13A at 240V = 3.1kW but you don't want to get too close to the maximum). So that's turning almost 3kJ of electricity into heat every second, which works out to just over 130 seconds = 2 minutes and change to boil the water as the reviewers found. Edit: Forgot to add, I assumed one litre which is also what Which used in their test. In practice you might boil just 2 cups of water to make a beverage, which will be much faster.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  >2 minutes and change to boil the water as the reviewers found The bottom line for me is that (in the UK where maybe small appliances can draw more) it takes 2-4 minutes, so as a pessimist, I wouldn't count on one that I can buy being faster than 3 minutes. I suppose I might do another test with 1L since I only used half that. But half a liter is plenty for one cup. It's possible that my setup works better than most because my kettle is almost a perfect hemisphere that exactly covers a large burner.